Can someone at Fox please explain why Buffy S3 (R2) is not Widescreen given this...

During the special effects featurette a number of short clips are included
from season 3 that are clearly anamorphic widescreen! Blink and you'll miss
it, but they have that unmistakable squashed look. Sure enough switching my
TV to 16:9 mode produced perfectly formed fully anamorphic special effected
clips. the first one i noticed occurs just after 1m50s in.
So wtf is going on?

This was just taken from the Newsgroup uk.media.tv.buffy-v-slayer.
It feels like I should be refusing to buy Season 3 until I have an ANAMORPHIC 16:9 version. Any answers?
Cheers
Theo
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My band is @ http://www.mokita.netMy Novelty Coasters

buffy began filming in widescreen in season 4. some of season 3 was shot in widescreen so flashbacks for season 4 would work without having the image cropped. Buffy (even when it was filmed in widescreen) has been framed for full-frame. So don't expect season 3 in widescreen ever, only certain scenes from certain episodes were shot in widescreen.
If I recall, buffy will be presented in widescreen for season 7.
No news on weather the fourth, fifth, or sixth season will be in widescreen on DVD, but if they aren't, don't worry, they are still pretty much OAR, because they are still framed for regular TV screens.

I'm fairly sure there is a quote from Joss around somewhere about it, but they were shooting for 4x3 until very recently, even assuming that they have stopped now. As its shot on Super35 film there is room to pull out extra picture information for a 16x9 broadcast, but in this case its like opening the matte on a soft matte film - the information isn't particularly meant to be seen; they just shot it that way to avoid being left with black bars when HDTV takes off.
Given that Fox have at least heavily hinted that seasons 6+ of The X-Files will be anamorphic as intended, I doubt they would get this wrong on Buffy.

Given that Fox have at least heavily hinted that seasons 6+ of The X-Files will be anamorphic as intended, I doubt they would get this wrong on Buffy.

Let us quote from the Book of Whedon, Chapter 2, verses 9-21
And the Lord Whedon did say, when approached by his many devout followers that "....I don't think it's necesessary for a television show to be widescreen", and prounced Buffy to be 1.33:1, and that it was good. And then he commanded that they feast upon the Buffytastic &trade goodness that was the Buffy musical, and that it too, was good. Except those in markets controlled by demon spawn that think hockey is more important. The Lord Whedon promised he would deal with them as soon as he got a break from his divine, perfect creation.
Ahmen-ay
Lama lama ding dong
Jeff "Insane High Priest o' Joss" Kleist

Jay's Movie Blog - A movie-viewing diary.Transplanted Life: Sci-fi soap opera about a man placed in a new body, updated two or three times a week.Trading Post Inn - Another gender-bending soap, with different collaborators writing different points of view.

Thanks Jeff, I will now say my three 'Hail Joss'es for forgetting the exact line of scripture. As I said, Fox have commented on their desire to do tv shows right, so there is a reason for the 4x3 nature of the releases.

The Lord Whedon blesses his humble servant Ian, and promises that ye shalt enjoy Season 6 to the utmost
Lama lama ding dong
I doubt season 7 will be widescreen (on 4:3 sets) either, unless you can find me the direct quote from Joss.
Jeff Kleist

Season 4 will be widescreen AFAIK, because the BBC have been showing the full 16x9 frame since that season started.
Watching Season 5 4x3 VHS on my widescreen I can say that it looks cropped at the sides. To the best of my knowledge regardless of what Joss may want the show has been filmed as 16x9 since 1999 (IMDB shows this) but stopped being 4:3 in 1998. Odd since this would suggest it changed midway in Season 3.
It is bloody annoying to know there are sequences shot to be 16x9 for Season 3 but not the whole thing or that they refuse to make a 16x9 version. The point is that that they have the audacity to put 16x9 stuff in the docus but still give us 4:3. Even more bizarre is for it to be anamorphic.
Maybe it's a transatlantic thing but over here we like our TV series in 16x9.
I'd just really like to know why this happened rather than hear the same old quotes from Joss trotted out that he likes the 4:3 ratio.
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My band is @ http://www.mokita.netMy Novelty Coasters

Nope, Joss (or the assigned director) COMPOSES for 4:3, and PROTECTS for 16:9. The OAR is 4:3.
I like my shows 16:9 as well, but if that's not the OAR, that's not the OAR. He started protecting for 16:9, and 16:9 masters were made available starting with season 4, but it is not the OAR
I'd love for S4 and up to be 16:9, but if it's not, we all know why
Jeff Kleist

If they don't release S4 of Buffy in widescreen over here it really will affect sales as a lot of people have uncut, late night, anamorphic recordings from BBC Digital.
Protecting for 16:9 is not the same as OAR. People don't film in panavision but protect for 4:3 and with soft matte stuff there are cases where people aren't sure of which one they like best.
If they protect for 16:9 that means they expect the shows to be seen that way at some point. That point should be DVD. Why Angel S1 was not wide is beyond me.
Moreover it sounds to me like Joss doesn't like black bars. Makes me wonder if he likes watching widescreen movies on 4:3 screen.
Like I say, the question of what is the 'correct' Buffy ratio is not what I'm asking about.
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My band is @ http://www.mokita.netMy Novelty Coasters